Consider this : live in the library.

June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized

Live in the library. Bring a pillow if they'll let you. Find a cozy carrel and move in. Of course, you’ve used a library but I mean really live in it. Don't settle for merely being well-read, but let yourself become deep-read, crazy-deep-read and uniquely-read. Let serendipity lead you to sections of the stacks you wouldn’t think of . Social histories of everything. Reference books of everything. Newspapers from little towns around your state with unusual news and announcements. Maps, photographs, government documents. And then there's Special Collections. These are all rich treasures waiting to be unearthed. Let your curiosity get the better of you, even if you have a test the next day. Heck, especially if you have a test the next day. Forget the catalog, explore, floor by floor, section by section. Sorry, everything really is not on the internet. Yet. At least not all the most interesting things. The internet is wide, very wide, but it is not always deep. College libraries run very very deep. Make friends with the librarians. Very good friends. They can help you enormously with your studies and your education. Take advantage of inter-library loans. Your librarians can help you borrow stuff from over 70,000 libraries from around the world. Really cool stuff. Treasures waiting. Live there. Until they make you leave. And then come back again as soon as you can.

-Celeste Tibbets

I am gathering wisdom from the far corners of the earth to give my older daughter, Emma, as she graduates from high school. What would you say to her? Or to your own 17-year-old self? What thoughts would you ask her to consider? You can submit your advice (instructions here) and 37 of those will be posted over the next 37 days, one each day, culminating in a free e-book of all the submissions (whether posted during these 37 days or not) after her graduation on June 14th…. and possibly in a print book as well.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

6 comments to " Consider this : live in the library. "


Terry Hartley

June 10, 2010 AT 1:54PM

Oh yes, this is my favorite essay! Makes me miss my library (retired)! I would add: Fall in love with certain corners because magic is waiting there for you, visit favorite books just to see how they’re doing at their ‘shelf address’. And do make good friends with the librarians-they’ll remember you forever, we librarians are like that you know! Also, they know where the best stuff in the library goes to hide.

Chi

June 10, 2010 AT 3:57PM

Yum.

Suzanne Deal-Fitzgerald

June 11, 2010 AT 12:11AM

Darn. My boss won’t let me bring a pillow.

And remember this, just because it’s on the NYT’s Best Seller List doesn’t mean it’s worthy of your time.

Sally

June 11, 2010 AT 10:03AM

So true. My mom was a librarian. Aside from allowing me to nap on empty shelves (patrons occasionally found my tiny white-blonde-headed body curled up there before Mom bought so many books the library overflowed), later, in college, she found an out-of-print book for me for a paper I was doing on the movie “Breaker Morant.” There were only two copies in the United States at the time. She got the book from the Australian Embassy Library in Washington, D.C. Two years later I bought a copy of the reissued book in Sydney.

Lila

June 11, 2010 AT 1:01PM

All I can say is I wish you’d been around for inspiration when I was taking photos of my daughter throughout the years. I am in love with your Emma pix!

ramblin

June 13, 2010 AT 7:09PM

<3
Really this reminds me of my college days and is so very true. Love it..
<3

A very special person!